THIS MORNING: Barclays returns to Saudi Arabia with KAFD office

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Earnings season is still going strong, with some unexpected results and details under the hood. Two companies grew revenue and lost profit, one swung back into black without selling any more than it did last year, and the biggest miner in the Kingdom is now earning most of its money from metals that were an afterthought 12 months ago.

For Maaden, the picture only becomes clear once you take a step back. Two of its three divisions set records and the third undid most of the good work, and the sulfur and ammonia story behind that is the part with consequences for next year’s guidance.

Worth your time this morning: Our look at what the Capital Market Authority’s disclosure push actually means on the ground. Fund managers tell us transparency should bring down the risk premium foreign investors demand, with the caveat that the smallest houses are the ones who will feel the compliance pinch.

And on the lighter side, Riyadh’s International Cat Show runs through tomorrow at the convention center, with over 100 cats a day (except your own — leave your pets at home). Further down the line, the Ethnosport Cultural Festival brings traditional sports competitors in starting 19 November, and the Six Kings Slam has been moved to the end of December with all six of the world’s top-ranked men’s tennis players on the card.

Barclays is back

British bank Barclays has opened an office in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) more than a decade after exiting the Kingdom, with Majed Al Hassoun (LinkedIn) serving as both CEO and head of investment banking at Barclays Capital Saudi, according to a press release. Al Hassoun — previously CEO of State Street Saudi Arabia — will lead the bank’s local investment banking and global markets business, serving corporate, government, and institutional clients. Barclays also named Susheel Jain (LinkedIn) as CFO.

REMEMBER- The bank announced its return last October with a provisional license from the Capital Market Authority (CMA) and plans to open a KAFD regional headquarters in 2026. The CMA cleared Barclays Capital Saudi to begin arranging and advising activities earlier this month.

Lucid gets a lifeline

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) has agreed to add USD 1.75 bn to its delayed draw term loan facility (DDTL) with Lucid Group, a loss-making US electric vehicle maker in which the fund is the largest shareholder. Lucid said in a statement yesterday that the expanded facility gives it more financial flexibility as it works through a turnaround program, and will fund operations and key investments into the fourth quarter of 2027.

Earnings have fallen short: Lucid posted 3Q revenue of USD 350 mn, a 4% y-o-y increase. Through its ongoing liquidity conservation initiatives, the company trimmed its sequential freecash burn by 30% from the previous quarter to USD 1.04 bn; however, both its revenue and adjusted per-share loss of USD 2.30 fell short of analyst estimates.

The big picture: The fund’s expanded loan facility comes as Saudi Arabia aims to put a locally designed EV on the road within five years. Lucid also aims to develop a Saudi EV, though localization, supply chain constraints, and continued reliance on imported components remain obstacles. The company opened a dedicated body-and-paint repair center in Riyadh last month, adding collision repair and diagnostics capacity to its studios, service centers, and mobile service operation in the Kingdom.

The road to TASI

Saudi IT firm Zone is planning USD 30 mn in regional investments over the next three years as it eyes a potential listing on Tadawul by late 2028 or early 2029, CEO Farid Hussein told Asharq Business, without revealing a potential offering size, financial advisors, or regulatory filing plans.

Egypt gets a third of the spending: Zone plans to invest USD 10 mn in digital transformation projects for government and private-sector clients in Egypt, a market Hussein expects to contribute 25-30% of the company’s total revenue within three years.

More markets in sight: The firm is looking to expand its digital transformation business in Syria and Libya as reconstruction prospects open up. Hussein said partnerships and projects have already been agreed upon in both countries, with announcements expected soon. The company also plans to establish a presence in additional Arab and African markets, adding to its existing branches in Jordan, Egypt, Oman, Libya, and Syria.

War Watch

Saudi air forces continue strikes on Houthis: The Houthis say that the Saudi-led coalition carried out 103 airstrikes over the past 24 hours, targeting civilian sites in the governorates of Marib, Saada, Hodeidah, Taiz, Lahj, and Al Jawf, wounding and killing several individuals. These strikes brought the total number of strikes since the escalation began to nearly 4.6k, the Houthi spokesman said.

The coalition destroyed three Houthi sites used to build ballistic missiles, according to a coalition statement issued yesterday. The targets were a factory that produced and assembled missile components, a chemical plant that produced and mixed solid fuel for the missiles, and a workshop that put together their electronic systems.

The Kingdom’s East-West oil pipeline was struck in the Medina region yesterday, sparking a small fire but causing no injuries or deaths, SPA reports, citing an Energy Ministry source. The pipeline kept operating normally.

Data point

55.5 points — that’s where Saudi Arabia’s Business Confidence Index stood in October, its second consecutive monthly dip and lowest reading since April, according to a Gastat report (pdf). The index slipped 1.1 points from 56.6 in September and is well short of the 60+ readings it held before plunging to 52.1 in March, sitting 5.6 points below October 2025. It remains above the 50-point threshold separating optimism from pessimism.

All three sectors softened: Construction recorded the highest confidence at 56.1 points, followed by industry at 55.4 and services at 54.2, with Gastat pinning the declines on weaker confidence around sales and input costs. Services saw the sharpest drop, down 1.2 points.

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The big story abroad

Lenders cooling on AI debt: Banks and credit investors are scrutinizing AI-related financing more closely and are wary of adding exposure to borrowers. Some say they would be hesitant to fund more transactions, even with guarantees from the biggest names in tech, Reuters reports, citing banking and credit sources. The pullback follows a selloff that wiped USD 2.5 tn off the Nasdaq 100 on Thursday, plus worries that the midterm results would bring more oversight on data centers.

Spying reports are rattling Nvidia investors. The chipmaker’s shares fell more than 5% yesterday after the company opened an investigation into reports that CEO Jensen Huang had been targeted by a Chinese intelligence operation. China has denied trying to entrap Huang, dismissing the allegations as “unsubstantiated” and “nothing but smears against China.”

France is blaming Iran for last month’s supermarket cyberattack. Paris summoned Iran’s ambassador and plans retaliatory sanctions “at a European level” over the October hack, which hit some 700 retailers. The hackers reportedly took remote control of store refrigerators and freezers, switched on defrost cycles to push up temperatures, and destroyed large amounts of fresh and frozen food. Some of the equipment caught fire. Tehran did not immediately comment on the allegations.